tell her you love her
by minipunzie
Summary: She's afraid to fall in love with him, especially since they both know they can't. It's not easy when you think you're not allowed to love. / Raura.


**An idea (a very long one) that I have finally completed. **

**Hope you like it!**

**Song - Tell Her You Love Her / Echosmith **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything nor am I affiliated with anyone. Unfortunately. **

* * *

_tell her a story, tell her the honest truth_

She's afraid.

She gets scared of lots of things. Like running out of gogurt. Or getting a lower grade than an A- on a test.

But she's becomes especially afraid when he goes on tour. Because it means heartache, which is one thing she should definitely not be feeling. At all.

So when he doesn't make it to work on Monday, she forgets that he's still away, capturing the hearts of thousands of girls across the globe. And then the heartache starts again.

It was always minimal; she made sure it never reached the point of distraction. However, it doesn't stop her from feeling confused. She reminds herself that there isn't a point; he doesn't love her like that.

And she's ok with it. They're just friends, nothing more, nothing less. She needs him though - she realizes that he makes her smile, even when he seems much too tired to do anything.

"_Hey! Work's not the same without you! Come back soon ;P_" She types out. Her thumb hovers over the send button, not wanting to seem desperate. Time zones also come into play, right? He's in...well, she doesn't exactly know what country he's in now, but he's somewhere far away, she knows that much.

She presses send.

A few hours pass by, and nothing. She seems him tweet, like a few pictures, but no notification was directed towards her. But it's alright, he's not supposed to love her like that.

* * *

_don't be just everything she wants, be everything she needs _

Closer to Christmas, and even closer to his birthday. They wrap the filming of the last episode for the year, celebrating by cutting a cake for his upcoming 18th. He blows out the candles, shutting his eyes while making a wish. A soft smile grazes her face and she clutches her gift tightly.

Everyone hugs each other, wishing good blessings for the holidays and the new year. He looks up and sees her, signaling for her to walk out with him. She follows quickly, hoping to get a few moments alone before they are separated again.

They walk to her car in silence, before she speaks up.

"So birthday boy, looking forward to becoming an adult?" She jokes.

His face lit up with excitement. "Duh. Only a few more days till I'm legal and then it's all starts from there!"

She wrinkles her nose, not wanting to figure out his interpretation of adulthood. (Although she can get a pretty good idea). "Mhm. Well, I hope you enjoy the last few days of adolescence. Being an adult is a huge responsibility."

"Really now?" He said, leaning against her car door. He pulled her by the waist until she was a mere few inches away from him. "Ok, Miss Marano, what exactly are these responsibilities?"

"Lots of stuff. I mean I've been an adult for practically a month now." She tells him.

He squeezes her lightly and corrects her. "One month on the 29th, actually."

She waves a hand in the air. "Pfft. Details. But I guess it can be considered a special day." It was his turn to smile.

If time could be stopped, it needed to do so right now, at this very moment. She turned her head to peer out into the vacant parking lot, feeling his eyes on her. Then she looked down at her hands that were resting on his chest.

"I'm gonna miss you." She muttered.

_give her a reason, a reason to love all you do _

He sighed. "You know that I'll miss you even more. And Raini. And Calum." He tried to make her look up at him. "We'll see each other again soon."

A sad smile now appeared on her face. "Then you'll be touring again."

"After Austin and Ally wraps. Where I'll still be seeing you."

Her laugh was emptier this time. "Yeah. Yeah, you will." She steps back, punching his arm.

"Well, Shor. Have a lovely holidays. And an awesome birthday."

Ross hugs her tightly. "Thanks, Laura. You have a great Christmas." He taps her nose. "And cheer up, dude. I hate seeing my favorite girl be sad."

She sticks her tongue out and makes a face. He opens the car door for her, waiting for her to buckle in. Laura's hand settles on her seatbelt, stalling for a bit. She can't believe she's about to do this, but it's now or possibly never. Taking a deep breath, she looks at him. He tilts his head in wonder.

"Wha-" and he never finishes because she's standing on her tip toes and her hands cup his face as she places her lips on his.

He doesn't respond and she's about to pull away, when he wraps his arms around her, kissing back slowly.

This time, with one last peck, she does pull away, blushing. But she doesn't regret it.

"Merry Christmas, Ross."

He looks at her in awe as she closes the door and reverses the car. Now, thanks to her, he's going to want to be kissing her throughout his entire vacation. Ross shakes his head and shoves his hands in his pockets, walking to the car he drove for the day.

No, he decides it's for the best to let her go. He can't love her like that.

_but don't you, run away, run away, when you get tired_

* * *

_Cause this will, slip away slip away, and start a fire_

Laura shudders. It's been a couple of days since they kissed. She's never been that forward with anyone and never would she have dreamed of doing that with her co-star. No form of communication has occurred either, not that she would've enjoyed any conversation she was to have with him from now on.

She looks at her phone. It's been taunting her for the last hour and a half; should she text him? Call? Deciding she was being ridiculous, her "if a flirty guy really likes you, let him make the first move" mentality (which kind of flew out the window earlier) was not given a second thought as she picked up the phone and dialed his number.

He answered on the fourth ring, foiling her plans to hang up and burn her phone in an attempt to never make the first move again.

"Hello?"

"Hey! It's Laura." She placed a hand over her eyes.

"Well, you obviously know what caller ID is. I was starting to have my doubts, with your technology skills and all." He replied.

She pursed her lips. "Funny. How's Colorado?"

"Good, fun. Really fun, actually."

Laura nodded her head. "That's nice."

Silence.

Ross scratched his head. "Well, um, what's up? You never call me on random."

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. It is Christmas Eve, after all."

"Yeah, ok. You're sure acting pretty nonchalant for a person who attacked me with their lips a few days ago."

Groaning, she fell back into her pillow. "God, Ross. I'm so embarrassed about that. I think I just ate way too much cake and I don't even know what cam-"

He snorted. "Hold up. You're blaming all of this on cake?"

"...no. Maybe. Yes." She said weakly.

Ross raised his eyebrows; even though she couldn't see him, she felt the judgment. "That's supposed to be a delicious dessert item that brings joy and happiness."

"So I've been told. Anyways, I did not attack your lips. I noticed some leftover icing that just so happened to be in the vicinity of your lower face, so I simply brushed it off." Then she added, "With my lips."

"I literally have no idea how to respond to that. Thanks for clearing it up, though." Ross said. "Since you don't want to talk about it, that's cool, I won't pressure. But when I get back from Puerto Rico, let it be known that we will be discussing this in great detail."

"There's nothing to discuss, Ross."

He laughed. "Quite the contrary, my dear. We have tons to discuss. For example, why did you kiss me? That seems like a good place to start."

"I was brushing off the icing from your face!" she exclaimed.

"Is that what we're calling it now? Stop it, your adorableness is killing me." he told her.

Rolling onto her side, she balanced the phone on her ear. "I'm hanging up now."

"Hey, don't get mad at me. You called first, remember?" he said while flipping channels to find a hockey game on TV.

"Bye."

He set the remote down. "Fine. Merry Christmas Eve, sweetheart."

"Merry Christmas Eve to you too. And don't call me that."

"Darling? Honey? Princess? I'm really digging sweetheart."

"Quit it, your cheesiness is freaking me out."

"Your kiss sort of freaked me out too."

"And this has officially been deemed the longest goodbye ever. Which I am now going to end."

Ross smiled. "Call me if you're bored."

"Will do." Laura snapped her phone shut and tossed it aside.

She's seriously got to stop falling in love with him like that.

* * *

_When she says she needs you, tell her you need her too_

They haven't had that detailed talk he promised her when they got back to work and to say it's been making her nervous is an understatement. It's freaking tearing her apart.

The start of this year was decent, but it was also the start of filming the last two episodes of the season. Possibly the last two episodes of the series if not renewed. It added to her increasing frustration. And she's worried because it already takes them five minutes to hang up the phone, so how is she supposed to say goodbye when she knows they won't see each other anymore?

Depressed. That is how she is feeling. Frown-y is another word to describe it. She doesn't feel like smiling.

Laura's phone buzzes beside her. "_come to my car. We need to talk._"

Talking is not going to help, her racing heart can tell you that. Regardless of her unstable source of life, she walks outside the building and sees him sitting on the hood of his car. She makes her way over to him.

Stopping in front of him, she asks, "What?" He answers with, "Let's talk about the kiss."

She crosses her arms. "I told you, there is nothing to talk about. It was a mistake, and I'm sorry."

He crosses his arms too and she finds herself struggling to focus her attention on him because this "never been to the gym" excuse was a big load of bullshit.

"It's not a big deal. I just want to know why you kissed me." he calmly asked.

"Icing."

His hands fell to his sides. "Stop being delusional."

"I am not being delusional!"

"You are. And you're acting like a child. Who's supposed to be the older one here?" he teased.

"Still me. Can you drop it now? It was just a kiss."

"Now it's a kiss?"

"Literally two seconds away from slapping you." Laura threatened.

"First, that's stupid. On my part for letting you hurt yourself and on your part for thinking you can hurt me. Second, I am impressed with your confidence in your violent ways." explained Ross.

"You know, I've got some homework to do..." she said, backing away from him. He reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Can you please stop running away? We seriously need to talk. I wasn't kidding when I said I was a little freaked out."

"Then let's seriously start talking."

He narrowed his eyes. "Good. Because I would like to know what the hell is going on between us."

She stared at him. "Nothing, Ross. There's nothing going on." Laura made a move to tear out of his grasp. Ross yanked her back.

Alarmed, Laura sputtered and yelled at him. "Excuse you, what in the actual hell do you think you're doing?"

He leaned up and kiss her, quieting her frantic protests. Laura tried to push him away, but her arms found his neck and her fingers were tangled in his hair. He bit her lip and she pulled away. She nudged his nose with hers.

"Look who's attacking lips now."

He rests their foreheads together. "You had icing on your face. It was bothering me."

Instead of laughing, she gives him a look. "Ross, you and I, we can't. You have your own things to do and I have mine."

_tell her she's lovely, always tell her the truth_

"You're really going to tell me that you kissed me only to say we can't be together? If you aren't aware, we kissed. Twice. We're practically married."

Laura buried her head on his shoulder. "howthcsanyowubehsofhappyiabourfthisl?"

He blinked. "What?"

She raised her head, detangling herself from his embrace and plopping herself next to him. "I said, how can you be so happy about this? We're leaving each other! You have a world tour, fans to meet - who, may I add, will hate me for dating you - and you're never home anymore!" Laura played with her hands and quietly said to him, "We're not supposed to love each other like this."

_when she says_ _she loves you, tell her you love her too_

Ross stayed quiet. He was a hopeless romantic; he cared about the people he loves. One of those said people standing right in front of him.

"Laura. Who honestly gives a fuck about what we want to do? Just us. Me and you. That is the only thing that matters to me right now."

"But I-"

"You are also the only person who let's me be my 100%, dorky self. No one else can do that because they. Don't. Understand." he pleaded. Then he bumps her shoulder. "I'm not leaving you. Whether as friends or more, I'll still be here. Besides, who else am I going to fight with?"

Laura sniffles and points out, "You have Calum."

"He may be dreamy, but we get along too easily." He smiled mischievously. "I need a challenge, ya know?"

She slides off the hood and shoves him. "Don't ruin this with you're immaturity."

"Says the girl who kissed me because I had 'icing' on my lips." She placed her hands on her hips. "Never letting that go will you?"

He grinned. "Never."

"You should let it go before I make you."

"Alright, damn. You're like a feisty chihuahua. I like it."

"Was that supposed to win me over?"

Ross gets up and throws an arm around her, bringing her near him. "Yeah. Did it work?"

"Keep trying kiddo."

"Do you know how long I've been trying?"

"See, why didn't you say that first? That was cute!" Laura said. Suddenly, she stopped. "Wait."

"Now what?"

"What are we now?" she asked while gesturing between them. He contemplated that and stated, "We are two people in love who are going with the flow of whatever life plans for us."

Laura laces her fingers with his, automatically liking the way their hands fit together. "No rushing anything?"

"Not if you don't want to." He looked down at her.

She sighs. "Ok." Laura smiles some more. "Okay!"

Ross's face changes to amusement. "Okay."

"Oh, is this going to be a thing now? Where you just go around kissing girls? Don't think I didn't notice your New Year's stunt." she said sternly. He chuckled, swinging their hands back and forth.

"Nah. You won't have to worry about anything. These icing lips are saved for you to clean."

"Again, let it go."

"Anything for you babe." Laura stopped again and glared. He gulped. "Princess?" More glaring. "Dude?"

"Stick with that. Pet names are as cheesy as beach movies." She held her hand up for a high five. "Am I right? I'm totally right." Ross began to walk away.

"C'mon, don't leave me hanging bro!"

"I have now realized how grand it will be to put in the effort into loving you." he said. She caught up with him.

"Aw, dammit Ross. I wanted to say 'I love you' first."

"You just did." He cheekily mentioned.

"Asshole."

"Love you too."

_tell her you love her too_

* * *

**Laura doesn't curse, so that was weird to write. But it sorta fit? Haha again, I hope this was enjoyable and not too ramble-y. tbh, I had no idea where I was going with this towards the end. Oh well. Xx**


End file.
